Mohnish Bahl's performance(daily) - Page 13

The sad story of young students in a college hostel, drug addiction, and a good straightforward young boy, who was following the dreams of his mother and brother, getting caught in the inevitable web... and the result is his tragic annihilation.

What is very captivating, yet again, is MB's anchoring. His very emphatic, sincere, and most realistic appeal to parents, peers, guardians, responsible people in educational institutions... to ensure that the young generations, which is constantly under pressure from all directions, should not succumb to the 'fatal' addictions. He also warns, in trying to reform others one can get caught in the web oneself... as did happen with the unfortunate Abhay.

Tragically, far too many people are hapless victims of such circumstances; and when it is too late, families and friends are torn asunder...

Mb you anchored Best .

Savdhaan India, Dec 12, 2012

Abject poverty, a drunken and gambling husband, and the wife in the final stage of her second pregnancy. The husband Suraj, a daily wages labourer, has no job, is steeped in debt and becomes the perfect handle for Prabhakar's manipulative manouvres. Mohnish Bahl highlights for us, there and then, the obvious precarious situation. A "benefactor" comes into Suraj's life, at a time when he is desperate and obviously he is going to be ready to be manipulated.

Some evil is afoot, as Laxmi goes into labour, the husband Suraj, instead of taking her to the hospital brings in two midwives who handle the delivery. Laxmi certainly heard her newborn's cries; but just then she is sedated and next when she regains consciousness, she finds that her newborn is missing. The husband declares the child was stillborn. He even shows Laxmi the apparent grave of her newborn.

Mr. Bahl then tells us of the horror of human trafficking in play. Suraj is a pawn in a gang that kidnaps and appropriates newborn infants. As Mr. Bahl grimly gives us the unbelievable UN figures: 40,000 infants are kidnapped at birth annually. And over 11,000 of these infants are never ever found. Suraj is involved on this heinous act of stealing these newborns and delivering them to the perpetrators of these crimes. Laxmi is sure her husband Suraj is up to no good. Soon enough a neighbour's newborn is also declared as mysteriously stillborn. Laxmi sees Suraj paying off the husband.

Laxmi knows something is amiss. She cannot believe her child was stillborn. She digs up the 'grave' and expectedly it is empty. Then she sees Suraj coming into sudden "wealth". A new mobile phone and ready money in hand. His associates are the same goons who had earlier come to beat up Suraj for not redeeming his debts. Then as Mohnish Bahl narrates, the truth would soon be revealed to her but in the most unimaginable manner. Will she be able to deal with the situation? Will she be able to fight the extent of the evil that is being played out?

Yes, the truth is revealed to Laxmi, by her 6-year old older daughter, who tells her mother, that the midwife gave the newborn baby to the father, and the father handed the baby to Prabhakar. Laxmi now knows the horrors that are being perpetrated by her husband, and the gang that he works for. She pleads to Prabhakar, and soon gets the unbelievable shocking revelation. Her infant had been "sold" just as many other newborns are. She confronts Suraj, runs in panic to the police, but is in the hopeless clutches of a conniving evil satanic husband, who now is ready to sell off his older daughter for the same greed for money. In the nick of time, Laxmi, is helped to escape from the confinement of her husband she prevents her older daughter from being made another victim of the trafficking.

Yes this one perpetrator of the heinous crime is caught and the valiant fight back by a determined Laxmi. By busting this gang she managed to save the lives of many infants who do get reunited with their parents. But most tragically, Laxmi does not find her own baby. She had never set eyes on her so how could she identify her?

Again Mohnish Bahl anchoring with his inherent sensitivity and caring, points out the horrors of trafficking in children; the worse-than-death fate of such kids who are manipulated and utilized by demons who perpetrate the worst of crimes. Statistics state that in our country between 2006 and 2010 over 1 lakh kids have gone missing. We have to acknowledge, says Mohnish, that the people who try to illegally "adopt" kids, without going through proper channels; unethical hospital staff; careless parenting and the greed of money drives these crimes on the innocent newborns. We have to fight this curse that dominates in our society appeals Mohnish Bahl. We have to ensure a safe and secure protected life for the newborns and infants of our country. He leaves us with the same impassioned appeal, stay alert and cautious, be safe, and stand by, ready for India to fight back!

Savdhaan India, Dec 13, 2012

Greed, jealousy, avarice, envy…. Four of the six enemies that predominate in the human mind. The pitfalls that can make thinking human beings turn subhuman and treacherous. Once we become victims of these emotions we are rendered incapable of logic, reason, or sanity. Humanity loses it very essence. These are not empty words….

These are the warnings that reverberate as Mohnish Bahl counsels as only a truly mature and sensitive friend and well-wisher would. One can discern when the anchoring or narration is mere lip service to a pre-scripted rendition as opposed to the feeling, thinking and caring person, whose narration walks the talk of the episode, as Mr Bahl's anchoring does in this very stark episode.

This episode of Savdhaan India brings out the ugliness of humanity and forewarns of the denigration of human relations to a point of no return. When friendship and trust are wiped out by the negativity of jealousy, then there can be no other outcome than what Mohnish Bahl forewarns about.

When jealousy and mistrust creep in, insiduously between two close friends, and someone else comes into the picture to take advantage, the outcome is the inevitable disaster. Often parents themselves generate a sense of insecurity merely by making comparisons. Finding shortcomings in their own children promotes unthinking jealousy and intolerance. This episode tells of all the horrors of how a man can lead a girl astray….. by playing up between two friends and preying on the insecurities of the one as against the confidence of the other.

Kajal and Payal are two close friends, but while the one is a confident and clear-thinking girl and the other is the deluded one who is somehow conscious of being the weaker and diffident person. All the insecurities and delusions lead to the inevitable "triangle" where Payal is convinced that her friend Kajal is putting her off against Shyam because he seems to prefer her in comparison to her apparently smarter and prettier friend.

Shyam, is the typical devil in disguise, who has only the lustful intentions... he eyes Kajal and preys on her. But she is wise to such characters. Shyam decides to use Payal to get at Kajal. The devious manipulative devil violates the chastity of Payal but has managed such a demonic control on her mind that she believes that he loves her. But he has actually managed to turn Payal so completely against her best friend that she accedes to his devious scheme and becomes an unsuspecting accomplice to the murder of her best friend. Kajal suddenly goes missing and her parents only know that she had last gone to see her friend Payal to somehow convince her that her liaison with the wastrel Shyam would destroy her.

Kajol's father is up against a mysterious disappearance of his daughter. Shyam destroyed both the girls… he drove Payal to the verge of insanity and made her instrumental in the senseless and cruel murder of Kajal. Shyam almost gets away with his heinous crime because Payal is in a state of strange denial and becomes a psychological wreck. But Kajal's father manages to bring her back to face the stark reality of the horror that had been perpetrated, of which she had been made an accomplice. An innocent life was lost at the hands of violence incited in a senseless crime of passion.

Mohnish Bahl brings out the stark horrors of the statistics of the number of crimes of passion that are driven by jealousy and insecurity. The youth of today need to be cautious about the sexual drives that can bring in destruction and annihilation in their wake. The lack of trust and faith, driven by jealously lead to such heinous crimes. Stay safe, stay secure… and fight back against the deep seated enemies of humanity… Savdhaan India, fight back.

Savdhaan India, Jan 2, 2013

While the world celebrates the coming of the new year, Savdhaan India is focusing especially on crimes against women. A sad reality one has to acknowledge, and while we would want to wish it away, we cannot.

Normally, as a security measure, women, in fact everyone, is warned to stay away from strangers'. But in this episode, no one was hypothetically a stranger to Kaajal. She worked at a BPO, and her life was completely wrapped up in the office and home, so her daily contact was only with office colleagues, her husband, and the regular driver, Shambhu, of the taxi that was provided by her office to ferry her and her peers back and from office. So how come she was still endangered?

This was a classic and tragic case of sexual harassment in office and harassment from a completely self-centred and insensitive male chauvinistic husband at home. Caught in this web, Kaajal remained upset and distraught, and only young Urmila at office, who had recently joined, was privy to Kaajal's trauma.

The team leader, the immediate boss, was a lecherous man who wouldn't miss any opportunity to make a pass at the girls. Almost as soon as she joined, Urmila was thus humiliated by a leery-eyed boss, and seeing her upset, Kaajal knew what was wrong. She accosted the boss and warned him yet again.

As Monish Bahl warns, women must not accept any such lewd advances; they must inform somebody. In fact a telephone number, 1091, is even provided for women to seek help. Mohnish appeals: call, seek help, do not take any of this lying down.

Ironically, Kaajal did! She sought help from where a woman would turn to first, her husband! For months now she had been telling her him of her quandary, and in fact was anxious to quit her job. But then she was one of those unfortunate women, who was wedded to a selfish man who was obsessed with wealth, with false values of owning a bigger house, having better material comforts, at the cost of his wife's self-esteem and dignity.

In office, it wasn't as if she was taking the lecherous advances meekly. At one point, Kaajal slapped the boss; at another, when he suggested he could get her promoted if she would "please" him, she berated him within the hearing of the entire staff. The only mistake was that this complaint was not taken to higher authorities in the office, to a women's cell, or to the police. The distraught Kaajal's plea to her selfish husband was yet again thwarted' and then Kaajal went missing'

Kaajal's mother, her colleague, and her uncle went to the police' a very proactive and alert police officer cooperated instantly, the enquiries revealed the unwelcome advances of the team leader in office, of the callous husband' and then the enquiry boiled down to the unexplained change in taxi driver, and the timing of when she was last seen or heard of was ambiguous ' after a few days, Kaajal's brutalized body, in a decayed state is found in a garbage dump. Post-mortem revealed rape, and the suspicion was on the two men who had made her life miserable ' a husband who did not even care enough to report her missing after 2 days, and a boss, whose nefarious intent was well known. But the police still did not have the hard-core proof against either of them till the focus moved in another direction.

Shambhu the taxi driver was coincidentally "unavailable" since Kaajal went missing. Then it was just a matter of time and efficient pursuing by the police before he was accosted, and made to confess to police third degree. His carnal desire for Kaajal; his awareness that she remained distraught and distracted most of the time, and the fact that she trusted him as one does a person one has day-to-day dealings with. While the criminal was Shambhu, her husband and boss could not be exonerated for the negative influences in her life. In retrospect one is left with unanswered alternatives; "If only" her life partner had not been so callous; "if only" the office people had reacted earlier; if only there had been more alertness towards the safety and security of the women employees. As Mohnish says, by merely providing transport the company cannot absolve itself. Had the transport company done the necessary verification of drivers and other security personnel?

Mohnish rounds up this episode, yet another grisly crime against women, with many earnest, heartfelt, and even stern warnings that need to be actively adhered to by one and all. Do not ignore the malevolent advances of your peers, bosses or any other man; if you, as a woman, have odd working hours, ensure that when being picked up or dropped you are not alone in the vehicle. While it is the moral responsibility of the organization to ensure this, you must also remain aware and alert. Ask a trustworthy male colleague to accompany you, even up to your house, if necessary. If at all, however, circumstances are such that you are per force alone in the taxi, ensure you inform a family member or colleague of your whereabouts there and then.

It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in our country and in our cities. That while India is supposed to be "shining", the crimes against women are increasing. So rally around, be alert, and let us turn the tables on this horrible trend, Let us FIGHT BACK!

And the transport company's negligence ,not verifying their employees before recruiting them.

last of all we ourselves have to be alert for our safety.